Grok 4.5 reached level 3 on every ladder
Grok 4.5 sits 16th on the Index, with a 35-move solution to a cube scrambled in just 3 moves.
Where it stands
Grok 4.5 scores 14.5 at high, its top effort, placing it 16th of 16 models on the Index. We ran only that effort. Just above it is Gemini 3.8 Flash at high, with 16.0.
Grok 4.5 reached level 3 of 11 on the 2×2 and level 3 of 20 on both 3×3 ladders. Gemini 3.8 Flash matched two of those results but went one level further on the interactive 3×3. Grok 4.5 did not unlock the 4×4 Gauntlet.
What stood out
On the interactive 3×3, where it could turn the cube and see each result, Grok 4.5 solved level 3 in 35 moves. The cube had been scrambled in 3 moves, so a 3-move solution was available. Its answer cost 32 extra moves but still secured the level. That was its last successful cube in the round.
Fresh cubes did not get it past level 4. On the 2×2, it announced: "Burning this messy attempt to get a fresh level-4 cube." On its next attempt, it said: "Resetting for a clean last-life attempt with a fully planned 4-move solution." Both attempts cost a life, and the last also failed. We saw the same pattern on the interactive 3×3: two announced resets, then a third miss at level 4.
The run
At high, both interactive ladders ended with all three lives lost at level 4. The one-shot round, which allows one complete answer per cube without seeing the result, took a different route to the same stopping point. Grok 4.5 lost two lives at level 3, then solved a fresh cube on its last life before missing level 4. Across the suite, it solved 9 of the 18 cubes it played.
Time and cost
The high suite took about 1 h 31 min and cost $6.79 at API-equivalent rates. With no lower-effort runs, we have no cheaper result to compare. The interactive 3×3 took the most time, about 37 min, followed by the 2×2 at about 30 min and one-shot at about 24 min. The 2×2 was the most expensive round at $2.83.